• Rochester and the pursuit of pleasure
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Rochester and the pursuit of pleasure

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Rochester and the pursuit of pleasure provides a reading of Rochester’s poems, dramatic works, and letters in a biographical context. It argues that there is a thematic unity--the pursuit of pleasu...
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  • 20 January 2026
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Rochester and the pursuit of pleasure provides a reading of Rochester’s poems, dramatic works, and letters in a biographical context. In doing so, it sheds light on a central vexed issue in Rochester criticism, the relationship of the poet to his speaker. It also reveals that Rochester’s work clusters about a central theme, the pursuit of pleasure, a pursuit motivated by a courtship of purity that grew out of Rochester’s Christian and God-fearing upbringing. This rhetoric of courtship, in turn, reveals the unity of Rochester’s work as the courtier and his various personae try to persuade his audiences, secular and divine, of his worth.
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Price: £25.00
Pages: 280
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Imprint: Manchester University Press
Publication Date: 20 January 2026
ISBN: 9781526195470
Format: Paperback
BISACs:

LITERARY CRITICISM / Poetry, Literary studies: poetry and poets, LITERARY CRITICISM / Modern / 16th Century, LITERARY CRITICISM / European / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh, Literary studies: c 1600 to c 1800, Literature: history and criticism
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'Carver gracefully lays out what might be called “The Rochester Problem/s.'
The Eighteenth-Century Intelligencer

‘A persuasive and fine-grained discussion of the contradictions of pleasure-seeking in Rochester’s work, with fruitful readings of less-studied works such as Lucina’s Rape.’
—Clare Bucknell, All Souls College, Oxford

‘The nature of love, the nature of nature, the nature of poetry, the nature of man, “humanity as a disease,” “yearning for the ideal,” materialism, nominalism, Heaven, Hell, the sacred and the sullied—Carver puts his nuanced stamp on Rochester’s war with every one of these conundrums. A provocative read!’
—Claude Clayton Smith, Professor of English, Emeritus, Ohio Northern University

‘This study disagrees with many contemporary students of Rochester’s poetry by arguing that his work is built on bedrock Christian assumptions about human life that contrast with his notorious personal behavior. Carver moves gracefully between the poet’s life and works, producing a comprehensive and convincing readings of his major poems.’
—Robert G. Walker, Senior Research Fellow, Washington & Jefferson College

‘Professor Carver makes a valuable contribution to our understanding of Rochester. The fruit of a lifetime’s engagement with the corpus, the chapters on the satires, Valentinian and Rochester’s underlying preoccupation with Christianity are especially stimulating, and the fresh perspective evidenced throughout will encourage further exploration of a still underrated talent.’
—Dr Nicholas Fisher, Formerly Associate Research Fellow, Institute of English Studies, University of London

Larry Carver is Professor Emeritus in the Department of English at the University of Texas at Austin.

Introduction
1 Interpreting Rochester
2 ‘A Ramble in St. James’s Park’: The fall of the well-bred man
3 Development of the satirist
4 ‘Cripples in their Art’: The major satires
5 ‘Wise about my owne follyes’: Lucina’s Rape or the Tragedy of Vallentinian
6 ‘The principal Disputant against God and Piety’
Appendix: Authorship of Sodom
Index